Apr 17 2012:
I agree. Like all the different branches and leaves, we are all one of many trees.
Everything that exists are interconnected entities streaming from a universal consciousness. We are not 'human beings' but, rather, 'beings' being 'human'.

Apr 19 2012:
My thoughts exactly ! We can't realize we are one, because we don't want to. 'All is One' concept threatens the Ego, it is always in boundary-making business 'in' and 'out', it is impossible for ego, individual or collective to welcome it's own destruction.
I believe the answer is that simple :)

Apr 19 2012:
Thank you! I thought I was alone in thinking this. People are so obsessed with labels and such. Oh your black, hes white, shes jewish, they're muslim. Does it honestly matter. We are all one, spiritually and scientifically. It shows in religion and in science. In religion, (for Judao-Christian-Islam) Adam and Eve were one and the same before they ate the fruit of knoledge. And like you said, in science, our DNA is so similar to our neighbors. So why do we put labels on everything, why cant we realize we are just one, like you are saying.

Apr 19 2012:
It seems to matter to lots of people because we seem to be a tribal species.
Labels help us make quick decisions and assumptions - maybe not good ones, but must of helped us survive in the past.
Whether it should matter is another question.
Perhaps if more of us thought of ourselves as one that would be a start.

Apr 18 2012:
Hi Daniel
It doesn't matter that we think we are seperate, we are not. I am connected to a muslum as well as anyone else from anywhere else on this planet. We are all part of the same energy field and we always will be. I respectfully disagree that oneness is a dream, it's a science reality. We simply don't act as one, if we did most problems would be solved, including lonliness.

Apr 18 2012:
I have copied pasted a story contributed by Salim in the critical thinking conversation, this story goes well with your comment...

The story is about a kid , who usually bears instinct tendency to learn that's why the ask lot of questions.....many of which we adults being unable to answer due to different reasons usually stop them (that's a killer!!)

This particular kid had one exception. S/he used to dislike Math like anything so used to try to avoid that in all possible way. But parents of that kid was adament to make her/him expert in math as they thought that's the key to success.So they applied all techniques, looked for differenmt turtors, paid them high to their kid interested in Math....all went in vein.......

Finally they could find one confident tutor who was known to have some unqique technique to make kids interested in subject they are not interested.So this new tutor got the job.....for a week the teacher did nothing just spent time with kid playing , gossiping and doing whatever the kid likes.....

Then one afternoon tutor took the kid for a walk to a near by forest.....the came across a tree where some very beautiful birds were sitting.......very casually the turtor told the kid ...hey look above what beautiful birds those areThe kid look up and wow yes how beautiful they are ....once back home I will paint this tree with so beautiful birds.....Teacher told thats a good idea....but how many birds you will draw?

Kid looked up for a while, counted those and then told 15 ........

Then the teacher asked well if 7 birds flies away now how many birds will be there then The kid looked at the tutor....thought a bit ....and then replied "well I undertsand, you are trying teach me math ....I am not going to learn that so is not going to answer........

It's a kid story but I think lot more adults around who have this attitude.

Apr 17 2012:
Well, we have millenia's of history demonstrating murder, annihilation, torture, cultural and racial decimation, manipulation, lies, deceit, and a whole host of other atrocities whose memories are buried deep within our bones. We promote arguement, disharmony, and victory in the name of righteousness. We have an economic system that promotes, and was built on, dominence, survival of the fittest, hoarding, and greed resulting in the neglect of over half of us on the planet. Religions and faith-based belief systems have touted our oneness since the dawn of time, yet no one cares because, to date, 'might' (and self-preservation) has truly made for 'right'. So the fact that science has caught up with what people have known for centuries is really not the question, is it? It's really "When will we stop hating and killing each other, and disregarding each other's significance?", isn't it? Because it has always been, and now science has 'proven', oneness.

Apr 17 2012:
Thanks for responding, Gerald. I can certainly see your point. But when I use the terms 'religions' and 'faith-based' belief systems, I'm refering to the original tenets described by those systems, not the subsequent misleading practice of them -similar to the term 'romantic' is not originally about sexual love, but about an appreciation of nature vs. the industrial revolution. Although historical figures have used 'religion's tenets' for their own narrow interpretations and exercise of them, the tenets still stand and are used by most who practice them today to realize the fruition of oneness. There's a lot of error in the world that has become endemic to overcome. When's it gonna start, and with who? Hopefully us.

Apr 18 2012:
(in response to 'Morals':) Ok. Here goes: From what I understand, morals are differentiating actions between right and wrong. Humanism is human values over divine or supernatural ones. Faith-based or religiousness is therefore not humanism. Morality is respective of the particular 'moral code' of the society or culture that it represents. Therefore one could be 'morally correct' by eating humans in a cannabilistic society - to use an extreme example. The faith-based belief systems I referred to regarding 'oneness' would therefore not be accurately represented by the terms 'humanism' and 'morals', although 'morals' (or lack thereof) could be used to describe the actions of those who practice faith-based systems of belief. My main point for refering to religions at all was to demonstrate that the concept of 'oneness' was not new because of DNA research, but is really an ancient concept continuously ignored.

Apr 18 2012:
(in response to 'everybody else is wrong':) Yeah, that is a very tough one. Very esoteric in nature, to me, and probably beyond my skills. On the surface, it would seem to be the core issue of the divisions and many of the atrocities we experience in our practical lives. Fundamentally I see it very similar to scientific reasoning, whereas we first understand some new discovery and then, as our knowledge of it progresses, we understand more depth and realities. It doesn't make the original understanding 'wrong', it completes it. How that new knowledge is used is a different story. Just my thoughts though. Thnx again.

Apr 17 2012:
"When will we stop hating and killing each other, and disregarding each other's significance?"

Yes, I agree, this is THE question.

Already, some humans on earth act in a civil manner, for the betterment of mankind. The problem is, they are few compared to the masses. And, because humans have a sense of nationalism, they follow suit when governments tell them to take up arms and kill. Sad...also, the domestic violence, this is also terrible.

True change has to come from within, after one does some serious sould searching, and realize that life is too short on this planet to use it for doing harm to others.

Apr 18 2012:
Thanks for responding, Mary. The lack of sufficient regard for others is, to me, is the crux of it. Of course it must begin with me, but in my opinion, until each and every human being on the planet has sufficient regard for each other, we will never have the prosperity we dream of, and we'll never have peace.

Apr 23 2012:
Everyone on this page are arguing so much that it actually gives the reason why we, the people, are not all one. We are simply similar to one, and the slight differences between us all form borders that divide us all. One more thing, DNA and God are weak arguments in this manner because either or does not prove why we are or not all one. If you want to defend the case, you should use psychology or sociology and state the similarity of mind and behavior because they are far less subjective than the arguments on this page.

By posting our differences of "opinions"(used broadly) that we see our uniqueness as individuals from different parts of our planet,this is not arguing,this is discovering each other and to me, "Let the good times roll"

Apr 22 2012:
Well in a joking and poking fun of response, I would answer "because there is over 7billion people, and if we were one, there would be one person on Earth", but I understand your meaning.

My real response would be, people are too caught up in their own individual world that they can't find that if they pop their "ME" bubble, there is a whole world outside and there is shitloads to accomplish, so put down your self-centric ideas and let's hold hands and walk forward all together.

Biologically speaking, for the sake of discussion, if we could suppose for a moment that mankind is 100% like the animals ... and the plants too for that matter. The small difference in percentages, whatever they might be, we can disregard for the moment.

Still, with all due respect to the materialistic science of our age, the inner being of mankind is qualitatively quite substantially different than that of the animals.
What our current understanding of DNA can provide us with... what our modern scientific world view can reveal to us,... is limited and takes us only to the borderline of a true understanding of our inner being. When we learn to reach beyond the solely quantitative and measurable sides of our nature, we will at that moment discover that the human being has its own ...."inner universe"
To interpret these aspects of our own inner being, we also need to take into account just these things that make us so "qualitatively" different than the animals.
The fact that we are able to think is clearly the most evident of these faculties ... yes?
Not just to think in terms of the more primitive way animals do. But to think "abstractly"

Abstract thinking is our distinct advantage over all other beings on this earth.

Thanks to abstract thinking, you were able to pose this question ...Why can't people realize we are all one....?

With this ability we can open up the "pandora's box" of all forms of knowledge. .. Scientific as well as spiritual.

If then, we do indeed have a chance at all for peace and survival, it has to arise from exactly this inner nature of our being...

Apr 19 2012:
DNA does not prove that we are all one, but it does prove we all are similar to one because we are not all the same person in body and mind. We will not never truly be one being for perfect equality is impossible to reach in terms of motivation and happiness.

Apr 18 2012:
Good question James.
The thing we have going for us today is abundance. If we had a major climate change that disrupted our food supply, would we still feel the same? Regardless of what anyone tries to blame it on (religion, patriotism, ethnic loyalty, etc.), wars are about survival. When your own people are dying of starvation, what will you do to try to preserve them? Will you try to increase your borders for increased farmland? Will you target other ethnic groups to decrease the competition? Will you send out scouts to steal food from other sources? Or will you just lay down and die so that others can go on living?

When everyone is in the mall gathering up items for personal consumption, there is harmony. Let someone yell fire and see how long that harmony will prevail! The same is true when survival is threatened in any other manner. Peace requires responsibility. When you have irresponsible people breeding out of control, how do you maintain the peace when limits are exceeded?

Racial discrimination is about job loss to the competition. Ellis Island opened its borders to outsiders when land was plentiful. It closed its borders when expansion was putting a strain on the country. We now worry that outsiders will come in and take the jobs that we now hold. We worry that they will get benefits that will rob our coffers. We worry that our rights will be infringed upon. How do we deal with that?

People remember the time of slavery. They still fear that it could come back should situations change and they don't want to be among the oppressed if it should, so they do what they must to stay on top, which means someone has to stay on the bottom. How do we guarantee that it will never happen.

Yes James, we are all connected. But survival is not guaranteed for every man, woman and child in fair measure. It requires faith in something greater than ourselves (that very connectedness if you will) if we are going to make that connectedness work for all.

The hand placed the glasses on the nose. The nose proceeded to carry the glasses around.

But, after a while the nose started to reason, "these glasses are a bother, I don't see why I have to carry this load.....after all, it is the eyes that have the problem seeing, not me".

OK, said the eyes, you can take them off if you want.

Off came the glasses.

Down the street went the entire body, then just as quickly it proceeded to trip and fall.

The result................................a broken nose.

Over 1500 years ago, a man just like you James had to pose this same question to a group. His words are recorded for us in a book few read, and many think they understand. It reveals our Creator's thoughts, I will share them with all of you. It is what I believe, and how I choose to live my life. James, I hope you are able to be upbuilt by this:

"For the body indeed, is not one member, but many. If the foot should say: "Because I am not a hand, I am no part of the body." It is not for this reason no part of the body. And if the ear should say: "Because I am not an eye, I am no part of the body," it is not for this reason no part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If it were all hearing, where would the smelling be? ...............But now they are many members, yet one body.............And if one member suffers, all the other members suffer with it..."

This is part of a letter written to those living in Corinth in the first century. It is recorded in the Bible book of 1 Corinthians chapter 12 and the illustration was given to show that just as the body is one with many members, so too we humans are one family, with many members.... Of course, he was specifically speaking to Christians being one.. But the principle, this principle of oneness is a beautiful one to meditate on, and to try to uphold.

Apr 19 2012:
Perhaps we have different ideas, values, beliefs, and we all think we are right (or closer to right).
Perhaps part of your answer to the original question is in this.
We seem to be competitive even with ideas.

Throw in our selfish side, tribalism etc - we end up individuals and tribes in conflict.

Sometimes, it is darkest just before the dawn. We need to let the wind of conversation blow itself over before everyone can understand, but there is some people who are just cynical and is self centric. Be compassionate towards these people and maybe you could melt their hard exteriors, but no one is perfect. =)

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Apr 17 2012:
Your explanations works if someone's building everything up out of building blocks using different recipes, sure.
But when you believe your ancestor is actually that of the tree, then you and the tree ARE cousins, litterally.
But that's just science.

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Apr 18 2012:
"believe" is not the appropriate verb. The difference between belief and understanding is the consistency of the explanation. I believe it might rain tomorrow. I understand how an umbrella might be handy.
Evolutionary science is not a matter of belief. We have built these marvelous explanations and are constantly challenging them, improving them. It's a matter of how well a theory explains a phenomenum, how much knowledge about the phenomena it brings.

About DNA... The way the "proportions differ" in various species is not random. It's simple math, really. What we share with trees is what we got from the same ancestor. I get the feeling that you're not comfortable with the concept of evolution.

Finally. "All connected" doesn't mean anything to me. We should work together in the effort of building a wonderful world, yes. But that it's an effort is a sign that there is no connection between us.

Apr 17 2012:
Daniel
We don't have to feel alone, we can re-connect with others, it only seems as if we are alone. There are millions and billions of others to be with not to mention all of nature being alive, we are not alone. It is only by our seperation from the community that we feel alone.

Apr 17 2012:
Zebras and Lions... is hard to understand people that bring into debate only the obvious. We are not animals (most of us for sure) and this is the point of debate where all humans should leave this person to drown in they own bs.
However, there are still humans there that know that we are all connected.
Protect the humans act - is a powerful declaration of connection on human organism. We see how non humans (corporations) are behaving just like humans but working against them (conducted by humans to). In this world of Business that we have today there is less and less interest to protect life and humans since we are the only living organism that we are paying our existence to our masters. So, are we slaves or not?

Apr 17 2012:
I was responding to Ady's comment "this is the point of debate where all humans should leave this person to drown in they own bs."

And I did contribute to this conversation. Ignoring my arguments on the basis of one's personal superstition is not appropriate. People on this forum should know better.

"Any ideas as to why people can't realize we are one...........humans?"
Because we're not one. We are billions. And we all have different agendas. We don't care about the human civilization, we care about ourselves and the people we know.
People care about owning nice cars, eating good food, putting their kids into great schools.
Zebras are trying to starve lions, lions trying to eat zebras.
We have institutions making progress at coping with billions of different agendas, keeping the world peaceful. It's not in us, though. We need governments, police, armies.

So it's not that people are not realizing that we're one, which we're not, but it's whether our institutions are doing a good job at making this place liveable for billions of selfish tribal apes.

And allow me to say Gerald, that some of us don't care about owning nice cars, or putting our kids into great schools. Some of us just want to spread a little sunshine and cultivate a spirit of cooperation, and live a simple, quiet life, respecting others and doing good towards others whenever possible.........we're all headed six feet under.

So in essence, if I am understanding you correctly, all we can do as humans is to make sure that institutions run by humans are doing a good job at making this place (our planet) liveable for billions of selfish tribal apes. Should this be our main purpose in living then?

Apr 17 2012:
I'd love to say "it's a shame more people aren't like you".
I suppose you've received a decent education and never had to steal your food. This is a priviledge, this level of comfort is unusual.
You're able to live this simple quiet life thanks to police officers and politicians and jailers and lawyers... the whole institution is making it happen for you. All you gotta do is dance around, pluck daisies and sprinkle sunshine all around you.
Don't forget why you've never considered theft or murder as necessary to live a quiet and simple life.

I think you've understood my point correctly. A decent goal for us should be to protect our institutions because they're protecting our "humanity".
Better yet to continue improving the system. The world is becoming this wonderful place for humans to be in. It needs maintenance and a lot more upgrades, but wow, nobody's trying to break into my house tonight even though I got food in the fridge and a charming wife.
So just saying. "Respecting others and doing good" is something you do once your children have a full stomach.

Apr 17 2012:
You know Gerald, I am at the place I am, because I have been oppressed, neglected, ignored, hated, laughed at, and still inside I know I am somebody special, that life, with all it's problems is worth living.

I have lived in a few countries. In some, I have had no running water, or electricity..... I have had to get up at 4:30 in the morning and treck down a hill with a bucket and take a place in line behind the rest of the community. Sometimes the water never came....days and days without water and electricity. I have woken up some mornings thinking what will we eat today. I have been stricken with illness and found myself alone, and noone knowing how sick I really was because I have had no way of communicating it..........I have even been up on a mountain in the middle of a typhoon, not knowing if I would survive or not. But still, here I am. Somehow I have always had what I have needed at the right time.

I have found that people put up their defenses, and joke around about serious things because the truth is hurtful to talk about...........we hide behind a mask and point fingers at others, not knowing what the other has suffered. If I started to relate all that I have gone through Gerald, perhaps you would understand me better, but perhaps not.

Some of us people of faith, take time out to share how a peaceful, quiet life can be obtained in today's world regardless of where we live. Not because we have always had faith, but because we have lived most of our life without it, and having found it, we want to spread the message. And, I'm not talking about external peace Gerald, I am talking about the freedom one experiences when life makes sense and has purpose.

I can't imagine what life must be like when you have to make the choices you mentioned above. We all suffer in one way or another. No life is perfect. We happen to live in a country that provides a measure of security....a measure.....there is alot of suffering also.

Apr 21 2012:
Hi Mary, thank you for being kind and opened.
Respect comes from a humility state when you realise the person in front of you has so much more experience in a field where you are only scratching the surface.
Respect comes from the acknowledged of the fact that against all odds, this person did not ceased to believe that better days will come and instead of closing themselves, instead of choosing to build a hard shell, that person got even more soft, kind and respectful to other people needs.
You see, normal people when they get hit and survive, they get tough, so next time when they get hit, they get even tougher. The next step is to hit someone in the process.

But free people react different, they get soft, they don't resist against the shock, they are dancing with it.

Apr 20 2012:
This is tough to express, even if is 2012 there is so much bs around us that the only role is to keep us apart. I don't relate to Darwinism or creationism, actually i don't relate to any ''ism'' and the main reason is the fact that relating to them is the end of the road. There is SO MUCH to discover yet about ourselves that will bring us to the moment where we will understand that we KNOW s....

For sure i know only the following: there are more and more things that brings us together as one that the little ones that drives us apart. BUT, we are leaded to concentrate on that 1% that's different instead on the 99% that is the same. This is not a bad thing IF that 1% is called individuality and is praised to be different, it should be different it must be different. BUT, we call it race, we call it colour, we call it religion, we call it inferior or superior race (whatever that means...)

Biologically, we are the same (if you accept 99,9 as being enough to call it the same), physicality we manifest, act, dream and hope in the same manner, the same patterns.

Atomically, we are made from the same atomic soup just like any other living creature - this will offend some people but i can live with that because is true and it has nothing with them accepting it or not - it will not change it.

What we do? Well here is the answer for the ones that truly believe that ''I am not the same with that f... pa..ck..'' And this my dear fellow humans is the way we are raised. Socially, we are different because we are driven to hate, to kill, to embrace some god or some ideal that will harm not only people like us, but other creatures too.

Humanity is an organism, like it or not but from up-there this is what you will see.

Apr 20 2012:
Not to deviate on the subject, but we are more than strands of DNA. We are not the same, and we will never be the same. The ability for a human to logically think and act enables a vast variation of human beings. There is absolutely no way the human race will ever achieve perfect equality, and if you oppose on the manner, I will be gladly to support my concept.

Apr 21 2012:
Dear Ady, thank you for the kind reply.
Still, I am a work in progress.

I like quotes, and anecdotes that help me grow as an individual. Your comment reminded me of something a magazine editor once wrote.

"A mother listened intently as her daughter explained difficulties she was having in life. The mother put water to boil in 3 pots. In one pot she put an egg. In the other carrots, in the last coffee ground.
The daughter asked her, what are you doing. And the mother said, look, you see this egg. It was hard on the outside, but soft in the inside, but now with the boiling water it is hard inside and out. And you see these carrots. They were hard, but when cooked in the boiling water, they are now soft. And finally the grounds of coffee, they have caused the water to change.
You my daughter have to figure out who you are. Will you allow life and it's trials to make you hard like the egg....of soft and weak like the carrots, or will you be a change agent and affect the lives of those around you, like coffee grounds change the composition of the boiling water.
This story Ady, helped me to see that we all go through trials, and but we have a choice as to whether we will let the many trials and suffering is life will affect us in a positive way or negative way.

We are all in this together Ady....thank you for your kind words. I will treasure them always.

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Apr 18 2012:
Depends how far back you're willing to go. 100,000 years is safe.
It's also convinient that homo sapiens is the only survivor of the homo genre. Our philosophers would be quite puzzled with the question of what belongs in a zoo and what could apply for a job.

But I suspect you don't really care about all this. You have a ready-made explanation for everything, don't you?

Every scientific fact is "an artifact of the way we organize and divide nature", though.
The goal is to organize things so that it brings understanding. If you're performing car crash tests, then go ahead and assume that a person is nothing more than 100 pounds of matter.
In some fields, we're just metabolisms or cells or the expression of genes. In other fields we're citizens, individuals, parents. There is no definition without context.

And if you tell me about peace, I find it helpfull to remind us that we're apes. Talk to me about car accidents and I'll remind you that we're mass.

For this topic "we are all one", I would find it interesting to see human beings as social hunting animals as well. It's not all about how genetically close we are to a species. In certain aspects we might have more in common with bees, in others it would be wolves.